1553 days ago

Tony Sutorius: Documentary Film-Maker

Rhondda Sweetman from Plimmerton Rotary

Our guest speaker this week was Tony Sutorius, well-known to the club as the partner of Tanya Woodcock and the father of our exchange student, Theo.

Tony runs a film-making company called Unreal Films. He started by making a documentary in 1994 about firefighting but has since directed feature films and other documentaries. He has specialised in making films about elections, which in themselves have encouraged and promoted sound democratic processes.

His most recent doco is about the Independence Referendum in Bougainville, which was held in 2019.

Tony reviewed the often ghastly history of Bougainville Island, the largest in the Solomons. It was a German colony in the 19th century, then passed into Australian administration during WW1, and was added to PNG for governance purposes. It was under Japanese, then US occupation during WW2. When PNG was granted independence in 1975, Bougainville was deemed to be part of PNG.

Things turned nasty in the 1980s as a result of a dispute over the Panguna Copper mine, an enormously profitable enterprise owned largely by Rio Tinto. The local people saw little benefit from the mine, which was an environmental disaster.

An insurrection and civil war led to the mine’s closure in 1988. PNG forces regained control in the early 1990s. New Zealand sent an (unarmed) peacekeeping force to the Island which succeeded in gaining the trust of the locals and paved the way for a peace accord and undertaking to hold an independence referendum within 20 years. (See below)

The Referendum finally took place in November 2019, under the supervision of the NZ Electoral Commission. The vote was 98% in favour of independence from PNG, deemed to be a fair and credible result and its implementation is in the hands of a group called the “Melanesian Way”.

Tony filmed his 40-minute documentary singlehandedly and the narration was in pigin. Its intent was to cement trust in the voting process inside and outside the country, and for the education of people everywhere.

This was a fascinating address which could have been much longer. We should invite Tony back to show us the full film and answer more questions.

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More messages from your neighbours
17 hours ago

Riddle Me This: Can You Out-Smart Yesterday’s Champ?

Riddler from The Neighbourly Riddler

How can the number four be half of five?

Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.

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2 days ago

Poll: Do you think NZ should ban social media for youth?

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

The Australian Prime Minister has expressed plans to ban social media use for children.

This would make it illegal for under 16-year-olds to have accounts on platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X.
Social media platforms would be tasked with ensuring children have no access (under-age children and their parents wouldn’t be penalised for breaching the age limit)
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Do you think NZ should follow suit? Vote in our poll and share your thoughts below.

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Do you think NZ should ban social media for youth?
  • 84.3% Yes
    84.3% Complete
  • 14.2% No
    14.2% Complete
  • 1.5% Other - I'll share below
    1.5% Complete
1382 votes
1 day ago

What's your favourite recipe for courgettes?

Mei Leng Wong Reporter from NZ Gardener & Get Growing

Kia ora neighbours. If you've got a family recipe for courgettes, we'd love to see it and maybe publish it in our magazine. Send your recipe to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, and if we use it in the mag, you will receive a free copy of our January 2025 issue.

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